Beer battered onion rings are the ultimate pub food and you can easily make one at home and enjoy it with your favorite beer with friends for a great weekend. When making onion rings, use a large skillet so you can fry more at a time, instead of using a deep pot. Use large white and sweet onions when making this home cooking recipe, adapted from The Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade 20-Minute Meals 2 by Sandra Lee. Peel them and cut into rings about half an inch thick.

Perfectly cooked onion rings are crispy on the outside and soft and tender on the inside. The beer gives the onions a sort of caramel flavor, bringing out its naturally sweet flavor. You can serve onion rings with ketchup or malt vinegar and salt. They also make a fantastic side dish for a wide array of dishes popularly served in bars like Buffalo wings, cheeseburgers, fried chicken and steaks.

In this recipe, the onions rings are lightly coated with flour and then dipped in a batter made of ale, eggs, flour, celery salt, shortening, baking powder, and salt. For best results, the beer should be cold to produce a better crisp. The carbonation of the beer also helps make the onion rings nice and crunchy on the outside. When making the batter, do not whisk it too much. It should be slightly lumpy, which creates a better texture. You don’t need to sift the flour when adding it to the batter. There are many kinds of beer and they come in a wide range of flavors. For this recipe, it is best to get a strong-flavored ale or a stout rather than a light lager, which has less flavor. The color of the beer will also affect the color of the onion rings. Dark beer gives the onion rings a dark and brooding color and rich flavor while a paler beer gives the onions rings a light shade and refreshing taste.

Ingredients

Vegetable oil
1 sweet onion (peeled and sliced)
½ cup + 2 cups all purpose flour
2 eggs
1 teaspoon celery salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons shortening
1 cup ale

Pour the vegetable oil into a Dutch oven until it’s 4 inches up the sides of the pan. Heat the oil to 375 degrees F.

Pour ½ cup flour into a baking dish and dredge the onion slices in it.

In a mixing bowl, blend together the eggs and celery salt. Add 2 cups flour, baking powder, salt, and shortening and stir until blended. Add the ale. Batter should be lumpy.

Shake the onion slices to remove any excess flour and dredge in the batter.

sing tongs, drop the onion slices into the hot oil and fry for 4 to 6 minutes. Drain on paper towels.